The Honey Spinner (Grace Pundyk, Pier 9, $34.95 pb, ISBN 9781741960884, May) ***

There’s not much to say about honey is there? It’s sweet. It’s sticky. Bees like it. If, like me, you thought honey was little more than something to spread on your toast in the morning then Grace Pundyk’s The Honey Spinner will make you think again. For instance, did you know that in Indonesia there’s a tiny fish that grows wings and transforms into a bee, that in Russia the honey industry is controlled by the mafia, and that swarms of bees are believed to be the shape of the human soul. Like Mark Kurlansky’s Salt or Pierre Laszlo’s Citrus, The Honey Spinner is part food history; part travel adventure. This is a story about honey, yes, and Pundyk travels from Turkey to Tuscany to find and taste some of the world’s best. But it’s also a story about the politics of the global food industry. Facts and stats about the marketing and distribution of honey make for a dry read and may only appeal to a niche market. However, it’s Pundyk’s witty and lyrical retelling of the highs and lows of the solo traveller, along with personal stories, that make The Honey Spinner an engaging read.

Esther van Doornum works at Readings in Carlton

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker

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